UConn, UCLA, South Carolina are the top three in women’s college basketball: rankings
UConn, UCLA, and South Carolina finished the regular season ranked first, second, and third in the NCAA women’s net rankings.
The regular NCAA Division I women’s college basketball season is over.
Several women’s conference basketball championships, which significantly impact the March Madness bracket, are currently underway as teams are vying for automatic bids. Thirty-one teams earn bids as tournament winners regardless of regular-season record.
Strong tournament showings greatly affect the selection committee’s seeding for at-large teams and can push “bubble” teams into the tournament.
The final week of the regular season held few surprises, but the season still had several impressive and disappointing performances.
UConn finished the season undefeated and will be the No. 1 seed. Sophomore Sarah Strong, a national player of the year contender, averages 18 plus points and seven rebounds per game.
Right behind the Huskies are the UCLA Bruins, with just one loss this season and likely UConn’s toughest tournament rival. The Bruins lead the Big10, the strongest conference this year, and have shown that they’re fierce competition.
Vanderbilt remained unbeaten late into the season before losing to South Carolina, then beat ranked teams Oklahoma, Texas and Kentucky.
The Commodores have been a surprise this year and are expected to make a deep tournament run.
Here are the top 25 programs in the latest NCAA Net Rankings:
25. Nebraska, (18-11)
24. Notre Dame, (20-9)
23. NC State, (20-9)
22. Southern California, (17-12)
21. Tennessee, (16-12)
20. Ole Miss, (21-10)
19. North Carolina, (25-6)
18. West Virginia, (24-6)
17. Ohio St., (24-6)
16. Kentucky, (21-9)
15. Michigan St., (22-7)
14. Maryland, (23-7)
13. Louisville, (25-6)
12. Oklahoma, (23-6)
11. TCU, (27-4)
10. Duke, (21-8)
9. Iowa, (24-5)
8. Minnesota, (22-7)
7. Vanderbilt, (27-3)
6. Michigan, (24-5)
5. LSU, (26-4)
4. Texas, (28-3)
3. South Carolina, (29-2)
2. UCLA, (28-1)
1. UConn, (31-0)
Thank you for reading Female Athlete News. Clara Romae Slowinski is a student-intern at Penn State University.